Samuel Abbas (also known as Samuel ben Isaac Abbas) translated Baḥya Ibn Pakuda’s famous ethical treatise, Ḥovot ha-levavot (Duties of the Heart), into Portuguese as Hobat alebabot Obrigacam dos coracoens livro moral. He also translated from Dutch to Portuguese the work of a young proselyte, Jan Richen (from the city of Hoorn), called Keset Yonatan (Bow of Jonathan. During his life, Abbas amassed an impressive library that included 1,136 books in different languages. He was buried with his wife in the Jewish cemetery of Hamburg/Altona.
Let us recount a story of the old days, of what happened to a great man who lived then.
He was our Rav Danon,
may his name endure forever.
We will not forget him ever,
We will extol him before God,
f…
This remarkable manuscript of practical kabbalah was written in Eastern Europe in the mid-eighteenth century; at the end of that century it was owned by the Radvil Hasidic dynasty. In contrast to…
While the townsfolk knew that an archbishop was coming, no one in Skalle [Skala, today Ukraine] made a big fuss about the news. It was only when pine gates were set up at the entrance that people…